Mark 1: 35
"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed."


How often do I say that I want to be more like Jesus?
How often do I say that I want nothing more than to serve Him?
How often do I say that He is the number 1 priority in my life?

then....

How often do I hit the snooze button in the morning?
How often do I start my day rushed, surrounded by my family, hurried and tired and cranky?
How often do I then, sit at the computer or go about my day of work, and pray as quickly as possible so I can get back to doing what ever is "hollering" the loudest at me?


I don't know about you all.. but this verse convicted me this morning. If I want to be more like Jesus.. I can't do it by starting my day differently than he did. It all starts in the beginning.. and when I mess up "the beginning" of each day.. I'm only setting myself up for failure. I DO want Jesus to live thru me.. and I DO want to be more like him.. and yet... I still let my days begin without following His example.

If I could start all of my days.. like Jesus.. in a solitary place with just Him and I... perhaps I would not struggle so much trying to "catch up" with living for Him. Perhaps then my priorities would fall into place properly.

I'm gonna try to live like Jesus.. and I'm going to start when I first wake up. No more computer time before quiet time!!

Wow Deni! That verse hit me like a ton of bricks. It describes me & my mornings to a T. After reading that verse, I definitely have some changes to make. Thank you for giving me the wake up call that I needed so very much!!

Well, I started my day right this morning.. right before sunrise.. I got my coffee and my bible and my journal and spent some time "in solitude".

It was really nice actually!!! (and I am NOT a morning person!!!)

Today's eye opening verse for me was:

Proverbs 21:31
"The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord"

Truly.. while we KNOW in our hearts that we need to trust in Him to supply our victory... we must STILL prepare ourselves for it!!! There are many things we can do to make sure that we are ready to win! We can't just sit back, and pray and ask him to "please please please give us a wonderful life." We have to take the steps necessary to get that wonderful life.. while at the same time TRUSTING Him to provide it in the end!!!
Getting a horse ready for battle involves... feeding him, cleaning him, dressing him, putting armor on him, decorating him to show what 'team' he's on, saddleing him up, adorning and tightening his bridle, getting the 'gunk' out of his hooves....
without doing ALL of these things.. how can one even think that God will provide a victory for you? Yes.. the victory is up to the Lord.. but he can't provide it to us, if we never even show up for the battle.


Anyway.. that was my "quiet time" this morning! Please share yours with us too!!! Sometimes the Lord reveals more to me, when I start to share with others... and sharing His blessings... will encourage Him to bless you even more!!

Hi Deni,
Thanks for sharing. Yesterdays devotion REALLY made me feel very convicted. Today's was good too, but yesterday's really hit home.

Thanks again.
Kristin

I'm just sharing what stands out to me!!! I'm glad it helped you as well.

Feel free to share your own quiet time reflections here too! I would love it if this thread became a place for us all to openly discuss whatever the Lord "highlights" in his word for us.

i'm currently doing a beth moore Bible study about the "fruit of the Spirit" and as many of you know, "self-control" is one of the nine attributes.

now for me, "self-control" is something that i've long associated with my eating. i've handled my eating in both healthy and unhealthy ways. to get my weight off and to keep it on the healthy side, it has really called for some serious discipline. discipline that i can only get from our heavenly Father!

reading in Galatians about "self-control" and my own correlation to it as it relates to my eating, reminded me of a chapter in another beth moore book i just ADORE!

it's called PRAYING GOD'S WORD...and in it, beth encourages us to take Scriptures and use them as prayers in overcoming strongholds.

there's a chapter dedicated to "overcoming food-related strongholds"...i'd love to share these Scripture prayers here with y'all...they've meant so much to me along my own journey!

also i want to share this from the book (p. 127)

"both Galatians 5:22 and 1 Timothy 1:7 tell us that self-discipline is a work and quality of the fruit of the Spirit. stop feeling guilty because you don't have any self-discipline on your own. neither does that together-looking person next to you. none of us can master ourselves. some yokes may be more obvious than others, but all of us have had them. God is the only One who can sanctify and make every part of us whole...and He will do it. all He wants is our trust, our belief, and a little time....begin praying His will over your life with confidence."

overcoming food-related strongholds Scripture prayer #1:

"Lord, according to Your Word, if I wholeheartedly commit whatever i do to You, my plans will succeed. (Prov. 16:3) Lord, i acknowledge that the heart of committing any plan to You is seeking Your plan. show me the right path, Father!"

overcoming food-related strongholds Scripture prayer #2:

"Lord, please help me not to merely listen to the Word, and so deceive myself. please help me to do what it says. (James 1:22) Your Word works, but if i am to experience it personally, i must be obedient. i need Your help, Lord."

Thanks Cutie.

My pastor has been doing a 3 month study on Galations (so far)... and next week's topic is the self control! I'm really looking forward to it.
But.. I do know this already.. the whole key to having the fruits of the spirit (of which, self control is one).. is not about getting them and putting them on for ourselves. It's about WALKING in the spirit, and LETTING them shine through us.
My pastor weekly reminds us to do 3 things in order to walk in the spirit.
Submit- our lives to living UNDER God's word.. not beside it.
Consider- ourselves dead to sin.. and RAISED in HIM.
Present- ourselves.. our bodies to God.. as an instrument.

It's a daily walk.. a conscious decision in times of "struggling against the flesh"... to turn away from the flesh and follow Jesus. We cannot get self control, or have self control apart from walking in the spirit. We can only fake it.. and fail.. unless we have made the daily committment to be HIS instrument.

Picture the whole vine and branches scenario.

If we are the branches... and he is the vine.. we must STAY connected to the vine in order to produce fruit. When we walk AWAY from him.. we are like a branch that has been broken off of the vine... and our fruit will wither up and die. The branch that is really ROOTED in the vine.. produces the most fruit!!!

The fruits of the spirit.. are not things we try to display for the world around us to admire. They are BYPRODUCTS of walking with Him. Seeing it this way has really affected the way I live my life. I can't wait for next week's sermon on self control!

you're right, evidence of the Spirit's fruit alive in us is a byproduct of walking closely with Him! and your pastor's weekly reminder is spot on!

(btw, just a little terminology correction...there really is only ONE fruit..."the fruit of the Spirit"....love, joy, peace, patience, etc. are the nine attributes, not individual fruits despite the cute little song we're taught as children not a big deal at all since it ends up being a semantics thing, just thought i'd throw that out as a little "fruit of Spirit" trivia, lol)

overcoming food-related strongholds Scripture prayer #3:

"When Your words come to me, help me to eat them; make them my joy and my heart's delight, for i bear Your name, O Lord God Almighty. (Jer. 15:16) increase my appetite for Your Word, my Sufficiency!"

As you may know, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah have just passed. One of the themes of the season is "teshuvah", which literally means "turning", and refers to correction of thoughts and behaviour after reflection and insight. It is in this spirit that I offer this quote to my friends on the board.

From Pirkei Avot (The Sayings of the Fathers), Rav Hillel's famous quote:

If I am not for myself, then who will be for me?
If I am only for myself, then what am I?
And if not now, when?

Every time I read this, it reminds me how we have to take responsibility for ourselves as well as for others. I think that one of the "side effects" of having been heavy for so long is that I tend to fall into the role of Earth Mother/Nurturer, and lose the self-care aspect in the process. This passage reminds me that both are equally important, and that neither can wait.

(P.S.: I hope you don't mind that I am adding Judaic content into this thread. But the theme is universal, and I know a few Christians who have quoted this passage.)

Add away, Violet Skye! You make some EXCELLENT points!

Oh, and Cutie, the Word of God is the only known CARB-FREE bread that's ever been created. And it tastes so good, too, doesn't it?

indeed it DOES, jimmy!

and thanks for your input, violet skye!

Yes violet.. I was coming to add a post welcoming you here too.. but dinner was cooking and Jimmy and Cutie beat me to it!!!
I only wanted to add that while it is important to take care of ourselves, there are times when I'm asking myself

Intercession for your enemies...an online devotion from Copeland Ministries I thought very applicable in some areas here and in life in general. I hope you get as much out of it as I did.


Real Intercession

"And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor."
(Isaiah 59:16)


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When somebody hurts us, our natural human reaction is to strike back...to ask God to clobber them. But that's not God's way.

I realized that one time when some relatives of mine got robbed. I was praying about the situation and puzzling over it. "Lord," I began to ask, "why did You let that happen? Why didn't You just knock that thief over the head when he tried to do that?"

Suddenly, God enabled me to back up from that situation and look at it with spiritual, instead of just purely natural eyes.

When I did that, I knew the answer to my question almost as quickly as I had asked it. It was because of His mercy. God has great, great mercy. Not just for me and my family but for theirs too.

Think about that next time someone does you wrong. Instead of asking God to knock that person in the head, like I did, consider the fact that--as ornery as he may be--he may well have a grandmother somewhere who's praying for him to be saved. Stop and remember that God loved him enough to die for him, that He's longing to pardon--not punish him.

Then you can begin to pray for him instead of against him, uniting yourself with his grandmother (or anybody else who happens to be praying for him). You can go to the Lord for mercy for him and you can go up against the devil on his behalf. That's real intercession and it throws the forces of darkness into total confusion. They have absolutely no defense against it.

The Lord is looking for people who are bold enough, committed enough to do that. Dare to be one of them. When you're tempted to clobber somebody, dare to change his life instead.



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Scripture Study: Luke 6:27-36

This passage is definitely worth the time it takes to look it up, and more.

Thanks Lisa... just more affirmation on what the Lord has put upon my heart this past month or two!

overcoming food-related strongholds Scripture prayer #4:

"O, Lord, like David, help me to rejoice in Your strength and say of You, 'How great is my joy in the victories You give!' Father, please grant me the desire of my heart to be free from this stronghold and do not withhold the request of my lips. (Ps. 21:1-2) Through the victories You give, may Christ's glory be great! (Ps. 21: 5)"

Do you ever feel insignificant, like God can't use you? We just remember, it's not by OUR power we do His work, but HIS! This wan't exactly from a devotion, but something I got in an e-mail. God works in mysterious ways...

The next time you feel like GOD can't use you, just remember...
Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Samson had long hair and was a womanizer
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once
Zaccheus was too small
Paul was too religious
Timothy had an ulcer..AND
Lazarus was dead!

And Don't forget

Jesus Helped them all!!!!

I didn't come up with this on my own.. but it spoke to me recently.. and I thought I would share it here with you all.

God Meant It For Good
by Jon Walker
“You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result.” (Genesis 50:20 NIV)

Joseph’s life was anything but peaceful. It was complicated by youthful folly, broken dreams, and the mean-spirited actions of others. Sold into slavery by jealous brothers. Thrown into prison on false charges. Yet he remained a man remarkable for his lack of bitterness or regret, always seeing God as the “Great Engineer” behind even the worst of circumstances.

In a final confrontation with his brothers, he graciously noted, “You meant it for bad; God meant it for good.”

The theology packed in that statement is astounding. “God meant it for good” means:

You can accept the past – No sin, no action, no choice on your part is too big for God to handle – or too big to be worked for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28) Just ask Joseph! Better yet, ask his fearful and famished brothers, who were forced to rely on him for survival.

You can embrace the present – There’s no need to play the “what if” game. The past is gone, and no energy you expend will ever change it. The future is in God's omnipotent hands, so you’re free to focus on the present. Your job is to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, trusting him to forgive the past and transform the future. Martyred missionary Jim Eliot once wrote, “Wherever you are, be all there” – not living in the past and not fantasizing about the future. God wants you in the present because that’s where his grace will flow.

You can look expectantly toward the future – Even if you make mistakes today, God still controls your future. Walking in the Spirit, you can live life to the fullest, unafraid of making mistakes and unconcerned that you may stumble into some terrible circumstance that takes you out of God's control. Even when things appear to be terrible, you can trust that God is working out some divine plan through you.

What does this mean?

• No matter how bad things get – God is still able to bring good out of it. Today, thank God that nothing – no disaster, no delay – is bigger that his ability to turn it into something good and godly.

• Thank God and let go – Thank God that he is sovereign over your past, your present, and your future.

§ Give God the circumstances, disasters, hindrances, hurts, and sins from your past.
§ Give God your current situation, your disasters, hindrances, hurts, and sins of today.
§ Praise God that he can work anything in your future for godly good, that you can walk in confidence that there is nothing anyone can do to you, or anything you can do that will be beyond the reach of God’s grace and redemption.

• Look for God’s hand – Walking by faith means you see God’s hand even in the most difficult of circumstances. You trust his ability and his willingness to transform the bad into godly good. God is not limited by people’s motives. In other words, it doesn’t matter why someone hurt you, God still can transform a deliberate, mean-spirited situation into something for his good.

• What will you allow God to change? – There it is: some situation, or event, or person in your life that, as far as you can tell, was “meant for bad.” How do you think God meant it for good? Ask God what he wants you to do with this situation (event or person). When he answers, do it.

Deni. thank you so much for this post. I'm really glad nothing has been posted since this one because I probably would have missed it. I have had so many things go sour this weekend & some of my husband's family being not so nice to my son. I have been so angry & upset, but your post just brought everthing into perspective for me. Thank you for sharing this with me. I going to give this whole situation to God & see how He wants me to handle it. The mama bear in me wants to tear them up but I don't really think that is God's plan. I think He wants me to step back & let things settle down......relect on the situation & then move forward in a manner that would make God proud to call me one of His children.

Thanks again for you insight! Have a great day!!!

I'm a big fan of positive confessions and I have 3 Bible based confessions for weight loss...

Today, I present my body to God and choose not to over eat. Self-control is within me. I have dominion over food. I yield myself to the Spirit of the living God and the fruit of the Spirt, self-control.

My body is the temple of the Holy Ghost who dwells within me. I AM NOT MY OWN. I am bought with a price. Body, get in line and conform to the Word of God, in Jesus' name.

Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world. I am created in God's image, fearfully and wonderfully made. I am more than a conqueror and cling to my confession, in Jesus' name.

references...Romans 12:1, 1Corintnians 3:16-18, Genesis 1:26, Psalm 139:14